ISLAMABAD: The governing body of the Higher Education Commission on Saturday criticised the cut in the higher education budget by another Rs5.90 billion from the committed Indicative Budget Ceiling of Rs70bn for FY 2020-21.
It emphasised that the move will dismantle the country’s higher education system by forcing the shutdown of universities, which are already suffering from unprecedented budgetary shortfalls and the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
The members stressed upon the government to reconsider its decision and take immediate steps to appropriately fund the universities in order to protect access to and quality of higher education. The Commission stressed that without adequate investment on higher education, the youth of Pakistan will never acquire the competencies needed to develop and compete internationally.
Meanwhile, the Commission reviewed the HEC funding formula for universities, took into account various proposals, and decided that for FY 2020-21, the actual total allocation of FY 2019-20 will be treated as base plus need grants, accounting for 85 per cent of the total allocation, while the remaining 15 per cent will be treated as a performance grant, allocated on the basis of the number of publications, the number and amount of research grants received, as well as number of PhD faculty and students. It was also agreed that for FY 2021-22 and beyond, a new funding methodology will be developed on the principles of equity, needs, and credit for performance.
